Don't wait any longer to find relief for your hip osteoarthritis.
Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most widespread form of arthritis, an inflammatory condition that breaks down the joint’s cartilage. In a healthy joint, the cartilage keeps movements lubricated, protects the bones from friction damage, and absorbs shock.
As the cartilage wears down, the bones in the hip area are left unprotected. Over time, this can lead to tissue damage, mechanical problems, and pain. This degenerative disease of the hip joint can have a range of causes – including aging, overuse, and bone abnormalities.
Let’s look at these risk factors in more detail below.
Although staying active is important to keeping your joints healthy, certain movements can wear down the cartilage in the hip joint when performed repeatedly over long periods of time.
For example, the prevalence of hip OA in former elite athletes participating in high-impact sports such as football can be as high as 60%. The risk of developing OA is also higher among people with a history of manual labor such as construction workers and farmers.
One of the most common causes of osteoarthritis is aging. This is because, as we age, the high levels of inflammation in the joint area break down the cartilage faster than the body is able to repair damaged tissue. People aged 55 and over are more likely to suffer from OA.
Obesity is a significant risk factor in all forms of osteoarthritis that affect weight-bearing joints, such as the knees and the hips. The correlation between OA and high Body Mass Index is explained by the fact that the extra weight puts the joints under excessive stress during movement, which degrades the cartilage.
A new or old hip joint with fractures or ligament and tendon ruptures can put you at greater risk of developing OA.
Direct trauma can cause misalignments in the joint’s components, which can lead to mechanical problems and causes the pressure to be distributed unevenly on the cartilage. In turn, some parts of the cartilage will degrade faster, thus exposing bones to friction.
If the hip joints have not formed properly or they have been deformed by traumatic injury, the bones and ligaments might not move as they should. Misalignments in the ball-and-socket structure that composes the hip joint lead to bones rubbing against each other, and the consequent deterioration of the cartilage between them.
Hip malformations such as hip dysplasia have been seen to be the cause of 20-40% of cases of hip osteoarthritis.
Some genetic factors significantly contribute to the increased risk of developing hip osteoarthritis. These factors include inherited defects in the cartilage, a medical history of OA, deformed hip bones, posture, and some genetic mutation (i.e.: SELP, SPN, and COL6A6).
Being a degenerative joint disease, hip osteoarthritis progresses in stages. At first, symptoms might be mild and confined to the hip area. However, over time, you might begin to suffer from radiating chronic pain, malformations, stiffness, severe swelling, and inhibited movements.
Identifying the symptoms of hip osteoarthritis early on is key to finding an adequate treatment that will stop the disease from progressing, help you regain hip function, and prevent severe consequences. Let’s look at the telltale signs of hip osteoarthritis you should be watching out for.
One of the most common symptoms of hip osteoarthritis is pain that begins in the groin or thigh area and radiates to the buttocks, legs, and knees. Caused by the high levels of inflammation and degrading cartilage, this pain is likely to develop over time and intensify after heavy physical activity.
As the disease progresses, you might experience stiffness in the hip, mostly due to high levels of inflammation and swelling. Stiffness tends to worsen in the morning or after sitting for a while because the ligaments and muscles around the joint tighten up as you rest.
People with osteoarthritis experience inhibited mobility and flexibility due to a number of reasons. Firstly, the swelling and build-up of fluids around the inflamed area will prevent you from moving your joints freely. Additionally, chronic pain and distress will make movements painful and more difficult.
Because moving your hip might become undesirable, the muscles that support the hip joint can begin to shrink due to underuse and become less flexible, which contributes to pain, reduced mobility, and increased risk of falls.
Over time, osteoarthritis can lead to mechanical problems, locking or sticking sensations, and popping noises (also known as crepitus) accompanied by pain. These symptoms are caused by the lack of cartilage, which leads the bones to rub against each other and causes misalignments in the joint.
Some of the most common treatments prescribed for hip osteoarthritis involve pain-relievers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), opioids, and in severe cases, hip replacement surgery. However, these therapies don’t stop the disease from progressing, nor treat the underlying cause of OA.
That’s where Orthagenex can help. Orthagenex’s advanced bone marrow concentrate and blood platelet treatments provide non-surgical treatment options for those suffering from joint or bone pain, torn or strained tendons and ligaments, or other common injuries and degenerative conditions. Our regenerative procedures offer a viable alternative for patients with hip osteoarthritis considering surgery.
Orthagenex’s PRP procedures involve a refined methodology of creating super-concentrated platelet-rich plasma that is far superior to standard PRP solutions. The extraction and concentration process of platelets, performed under strict protocols, is designed to ensure a higher concentration of growth factors — 10 – 40x over baseline value. This super-concentrated PRP approach aims to optimize patient outcomes by stimulating the body’s natural healing processes. These protocols bring together advanced imaging guidance, meticulous sterile techniques, and the precise application of super-concentrated PRP to optimize the therapeutic benefits of the treatment.
Through this, Orthagenex has been able to offer treatments that not only tackle a wide array of orthopedic conditions with PRP alone and/or combined with BMC, including hip arthritis. This is particularly beneficial for patients seeking non-invasive treatments for joint and soft tissue injuries and conditions.
At Orthagenex, advanced technologies and procedures are leveraged to address various orthopedic conditions, including the pioneering use of Bone Marrow Concentrate (BMC) injections. This innovative technique centers around the precise delivery of bone marrow concentrate containing stem cells into the injured area or damaged tissue. This is achieved by using imaging guidance by MSK ultrasound and fluoroscopy, which ensures a high degree of accuracy in the procedure. The result is an enhancement of the body’s natural healing processes, stimulating the repair of damaged tissues.
Patients undergoing Bone Marrow Concentrate injections at Orthagenex benefit from non- invasive procedures that require very little downtime. This is a significant advantage over traditional surgeries, which often lead to long, painful rehabilitation periods to restore joint strength and mobility. The bone marrow concentrate injections provided at Orthagenex aim to help patients avoid these arduous recovery periods.
To this day, there have been over 30 randomized controlled trials of PRP, which have shown how this therapy can help the body heal itself by its stimulating effect on the stem cells within the targeted area. Specifically, a 2019 study has confirmed that platelet-rich plasma injections can help patients with hip osteoarthritis find relief from pain and improve functionality for 6 months or longer.
Orthagenex offers procedures that can help patients manage the pain of osteoarthritis without surgery. Beyond simply easing the discomfort deriving from OA, these treatment programs also boost the hip’s range of motion, improve the joint’s function, and can help a patient return to fully enjoying their lives.
If you are tired of being defined by pain and medications, or you are battling the prospect of an invasive hip replacement surgery, the treatments offered at Orthagenex are the answer you’ve been looking for.
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